A DeKalb County deputy was fired following his arrest on various charges, including sex trafficking, rape and molestation, Sheriff Melody Maddox said Monday.
Derrick Gardner, 34, of Stone Mountain, was arrested Sunday and booked into the DeKalb jail, where he was being held without bond. DeKalb police also charged Gardner with first-degree cruelty to children, enticing a child for indecent purposes and aggravated sexual battery. All of the charges are felonies.
“Gardner’s employment has been terminated,” Maddox said in an emailed statement.
Gardner had been employed with the DeKalb sheriff’s office for three years and 10 months, according to a department spokesman. According to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, or POST, Gardner served as a jailer until November, when he was promoted to deputy.
A DeKalb police spokesperson said officers were responding to a 911 call reporting a rape when Gardner was arrested. No further details were released about the alleged crimes, which happened between Wednesday and Sunday, arrest warrants state.
During the investigation, Lakreshia Brookins was also arrested and charged with second-degree cruelty to children, police said.
Gardner is the second metro Atlanta deputy arrested during the past week.
A deputy with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office was arrested and immediately fired last week after he was accused of taking controlled substances into the county’s jail. Dyimond Johnson, 30, is facing four felony charges, including crossing guard lines with a controlled substance and violation of oath of office, Cobb sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Blake said.
— Data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
